Preferring to pincer

    Keywords: Opening, Joseki

This page picks up on ideas given on the Kobayashi fuseki and mini-Chinese pages.

[Diagram]

Pincer to prevent the Kobayashi

When Black approaches with B1 it is normal for White to defend the corner with a or b in place of W2. Then Black can extend back to the middle of the side to make the Kobayashi formation by playing at the star point on the upper side, marked with a circle.



The pincer at W2 is seen in fewer than 10% of pro games.

RafaelCaetano: I wonder if that percentage would change significantly for "recent" games. Say, games in the last 20 years. I don't have GoGoD myself, though...[2]

[Diagram]

After the normal sequence

Supposing the normal development shown in the right-hand corner, White has sente to approach in the left-hand corner with a play such as W1.



In this position the area of marked points has become important. It isn't immediately clear how White exploits it, though.


[Diagram]

Pincer to prevent the mini-Chinese

Again a pincer to prevent Black building up a mini-Chinese formation along the side. Once more this is seen in professional games, but isn't highly favoured (no more than 10% of examples).

[Diagram]

Joseki

This is a main variation. White plays W7 to gain the maximum on the right side. White's next plays on the other side would be a or b, which are good shape but gote.


There is nothing here really to support the common amateur idea that playing a pincer confers an advantage, though. In both cases Black takes territory early in White's corner and pros like profit ---> Who doesn't?[1]

[Diagram]

As played by Kato

A quite different attitude is shown by this counter-pincer strategy, played quite often recently by Kato Masao. Black starts a running fight on the top side. This suits Kato's style but should be considered a difficult choice.

Charles Matthews


[1]

Actually, you'll find many good amateurs who like to play for influence; and you'll find some pros like Takemiya who aren't concerned about early profit. I'd say they are playing different games; but you won't get a Takemiya fan to agree.

[2]

Yes. The proportion must have gone up recently (2003) since the number of examples is now like 200 out of 1500 games. However the winning percentage looks more like 45%: which isn't great.

Charles


This is a copy of the living page "Preferring to pincer" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2004 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.
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